Specialists
showcase their
top Luxury Travel
product, from
page 12.
Cape Town Tourism
makes a case for new
tourism cooperation
with Brazil. Page 6.
Travel’s entrepreneurs take
us behind the scenes in
the Selling from Home
feature, from page 8.
Travel Industry Review
Published by TTG Southern Africa
Retailers predict new BSP
rules will drop agencies
BY SARAH CORNWELL
MAJOR retail agency groups
said last month they expected new financial criteria for travel agencies operating under BSP ZA could
cause more of a migration
towards centralised ticketing specialists and service
providers. This included new
minimum financial security
amounts being introduced,
which will be tied to remittance frequency. “There is quite a complex formula that [accredited
agencies] need to apply. If
you want to continue paying on a monthly basis, as a
small agency, that is going to
be more of a problem… It is
a lot of money… that comes
off your group bank facili-
ties. But it is not something
that is going to be won. You
will have to comply to issue tickets,” said Allan Lunz,
BidTravel Managing Director. “For us, it is not going to
impact us significantly more
than before,” said Andrew
Stark, Flight Centre Managing Director. “There is going
to be a higher guarantee but
that is okay… if you look at
our size.” Mr. Stark said he could
sy mpathise with smaller
businesses. However, “travel
is a tough industry to be in…
if you have less [option] to
borrow, maybe that is not
such a bad thing”.
Wally Gaynor, Managing
Director of Club Travel, remarked, “without a shadow
of a doubt… a huge number
of IATA agents will give up
their licenses.
“ It h a s b e e n a r o u g h
year… now IATA wants half
a million. Most don’t have
guarantees [with IATA] because they have been around
so long. It is so much cheaper
going through us. We have
all the staff and facilities… it
is economies of scale. “The only reason someone
would want to keep [their accreditation/IATA license] is
if they have a corporate customer that pays in 30 days.
We want the money upfront.
You should not be giving 30day accounts – you are not
continued on page 4
Virgin Atlantic last month marked its 787 Dreamliner
service to Johannesburg. The new aircraft has been employed on the airline’s daily service between Johannesburg and London Heathrow. A special celebratory flight
included trade partners, corporate clients, frequent flyers
and local celebrities and Virgin boss, Richard Branson,
who popped champagne in the aisles.
Paris attacks no threat to
Schengen says Ambassador
BY DOMINIC WARDALL
The Travel Corporation wished its partners a wonderful
Festive Season: “Eat, drink and be merry and book lots
of our awesome travel products in 2016!” Pictured above
(back, l to r): Carolyn Riddick, Marketing Assistant: Insight
Vacations; Pieter Beyers, Insight Vacations General Manager; Louise Stoltz, Financial Controller and Jane Drummond, Reservations Manager with (front): Kelly Jackson,
General Manager, Contiki and Busabout; Jacolette Calitz,
Creative Designer and Darsha Soobramoney, Marketing
Executive.
SAA’s revival
plan threatened
by route review FRENCH tourism authorities
have “categorically” denied
having any plans to change
from the current Schengen
visa system and have pledged
to keep borders open after
last month’s terrorist attacks
in Paris. 48-hours processing time is to be maintained
when applications are lodged
at visa application centres in
Cape Town and Johannesburg consulates. For Durban,
the 48-hour process does not
allow for the return transfer
of passports between Durban
and Johannesburg.
The quicker turnaround
times for short-stay tourist
visas were introduced early
this year, as part of a wider
campaign to reassure visitors
of their safety following the
continued on page 2
SOUTH African Airways
has committed to joint
marketing Air China’s
new non-stop Beijing –
Johannesburg route, but
indecision still dogs its
Abu Dhabi gateway and
the airline’s turnaround
plan, following what it
claims was the falsification of route projections
by former Chief Commercial Officer Sylvain
Bosc. The future of the airline's long-haul route
strateg y based on its
Abu Dhabi flights and
partnership with Etihad
Airways is now under review.
A decision was still
pending late last month
continued on page 4
Kulula holidays, with
Emirates, hosted an
educational to Turkey
last month. Pictured
at the library in Ephesus (back row, l to r):
Deborah Magrath, Club
Travel; Megan D’Arcy
and Maya Kassen, kulula holidays; Lerato
M a ka m a n e , e B u c k s
Travel with (front row)
Yasmin Walker, HWT
Travel World Overport
City; Colleen Kindo, kulula holidays; Siddika
Coovadia, Emirates;
L ize l le S m ith , HW T
Benoni; Rene Simpson,
Simpson Conferences
and Travel; Charmaine
Lewis, kulula holidays
and Jay Bhula, HWT
Modi’s Travel.
News Digest
Paris attacks no
threat to Schengen...
definitely open, they never
ceased to be. The controls are
tightened, in order to ensure
security, but South Africans
are more than welcome to
visit France any time and to
show that they too are not
afraid. Our visa policy concerning South Africa will
remain exactly the same, and
“Our visa policy concerning South Africa will remain
exactly the same and France welcomes all its visitors
with open arms.” – Elisabeth Barbier, Ambassador
of France to South Africa
Photo: Embassy of France
attacks.
“The victims of the Paris
attacks came from 19 different countries and what happened to us… could happen
to anyone tomorrow…”, said
the ambassador. “The borders of France are
as “false” and “totally unfounded” rumours France
had stopped issuing Schengen visas in order to replace
them with a national permit.
Nonetheless, industry experts are widely questioning
the continued viability of the
Schengen Agreement, as all
member countries review the
threats of terrorism, exacerbated by open borders.
A mbassador Elisabet h
Barbier insisted: “The incon-
France welcomes all its visitors with open arms.”
France is one of the world’s
most visited countries, the
MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index expected
more than 16-million visitors
to Paris this year.
Amadeus introduces
new General Manager
AMADEUS has appointed
Andrew Hedley to head the
company’s operation in this
region, based in Johannesburg. Mr. Hedley takes over
from Immanuel Banza, acting General Manager since
July, when long-serving GM,
Peter Long, resigned.
Amadeus said Mr. Banza
would continue to manage
strategic relationships with
customers in southern Africa.
Andrew Hedley
Mr. Hedley was formerly
Head of Technical Business
at Travelstart. For the past
four years, he was responsible for overseeing processes
to improve customer experience and conversion rates. He
will now be overseeing commercial and operational strategies for Amadeus in markets across southern Africa
and for growing the brand
and introducing technological innovations.
The kulula holidays elves were
hard at work last month, in the
run up to the Festive Season.
“The team would like to thank
their partners and friends in
travel for their continued support in 2015 and wish them all
a very happy and prosperous
2016. Upwards!” Pictured above:
kulula holidays staff in Randburg. Pictured right, (back row,
l to r): Ingrid Siljeur; Sweetness
Kuse and Avril Maharaj with
(front) Andiswa Shushu; Colleen
Kindo and Sarah Tallents.
the
venience which visitors travelling to France may face are
the reinforced controls at the
borders implemented for security reasons”, while many
international travel groups,
operators and airlines offered f lexible cancellation
and change options for Paris
bookings in the wake of the
continued from page 1
Charlie Hebdo shooting incident in Paris in January. But visitors to France and
other European countries
can expect longer wait times
at immigration points as a
result of increased security
measures.
French officials slammed
Sales Resource
The latest product sales, marketing and training resources for travel professionals.
Trafalgar adds new incentive opportunities.
Trafalgar embarked on a nationwide roadshow last month, launching a new Simply the Best campaign and new itineraries and destinations for 2016. There is also
an updated eLearning incentive programme for travel agents. It also launched its
latest Acclaim Trip trade incentive which gives 10 travel agents, who complete the
eLearning course in 2016, a place on a Christmas markets trip in November, including air and land costs.
Africa Albida Tourism reduces rates for three properties.
Africa Albida Tourism has reduced 2016 accommodation rates for Victoria Falls
Safari Lodge, Victoria Falls Safari Suites and Victoria Falls Safari Club in Zimbabwe.
The company said its decision was based on 2015 having been “tough” for tourism
in the region. Rates for Lokuthula Lodges will remain unchanged, with additional
savings for longer stays at Ngoma Safari Lodge in Chobe. US marketing organisation replaces DiscoverAmerica site with call to VisitTheUSA.
Brand USA, the destination marketing
organisation for the US, has developed
a new international consumer website,
VisitTheUSA.com. Browsers will automatically be redirected from the former DiscoverAmerica.com landing page.
The organisation said the new URL had
been adopted “because America is more
than just the USA”. An even more targeted GoUSA.com brand has been developed for key markets in Asia. Brand
USA said last month the organisation
was also considering a new international
.com version of its B2B sales training,
US Discovery programme. In the interim, agents can find trip planning tools and
recommended sites and itineraries on the VisitTheUSA.com site.
White Star has special
fares for a 2016 Queen
Elizabeth sailing from
Cape Town to Fremantle,
departing January 27, arriving February 12, with
discounts up to 60 percent. Pictured (l to r): head
of marketing Sandy McCarthy and GM Shaun McCarthy, with reservations
agents Nadia Hellman
and Deidre Adcock.
Dreams launches new ski division
DREAMS has introduced a
range of Ski Dreams ski holidays in Italy and Austria, in
partnership with ski holiday
specialists Mel and Russel
Bird. “Skiing is f lourishing as
a recreational activity for
2
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
South Africans and for travellers looking for something
different,” said Dreams Chief
Executive Officer, Erica Barrett. “Our packages aim to
entice families, couples and
corporates to consider a ski
vacation...”
Destinations include Cervinia and the linked villages
of Zer matta and Valtournenche; St. Anton and Neustift. Clients receive a free
ski lesson at the Ski School
of South Africa in Midrand
ahead of departure.
News Digest
... new BSP rules will drop agencies
server during the process and
IATA the secretariat. ASATA said: “… T he
market may have been forced
to adopt the recommended
criteria set out in Resolution
890F, which would have been
substantially more onerous
on accredited agencies… Every effort was made to
address local market conditions, to best meet the expectations of the carriers and
respect the business needs
and challenges of the agency
community”.
The new Local Financial
Criteria also apply to IATA
accredited agencies in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia
and Swaziland. Key changes include increased agent remittance options to monthly, fortnightly
and weekly, as well as the
introduction of minimum
financial security amounts,
subject to remittance frequency: R160,000 (or the
equivalent in NAD, LSL,
SZL or BWP for each count r y, as com municated by
IATA) for weekly remittance;
R250,000 for fortnightly remittance and R500,000 for
those repor ting monthly.
There are new financial test
ratios and the financial risk
formula calculation has been
updated.
I ATA A r e a M a n a g e r
Sout her n A f r ica , Ja naurieu D’Sa, said previously
South Africa’s risk profile
continued from page 1
a bank! Tell the corporate:
if you want to deal with me,
you do it on a credit card.” Agencies have been granted a month longer to adapt to
the new requirements, now
due to be imposed March 1,
2016. The Association of Southern African Travel Agents
had appealed for more time,
concerned the December/
Ja nu a r y hol id ays wou ld
make the timing of extraordinary financial assessments
“less than ideal”. However,
it cautioned: “Important for
members to note [is] that the
dates stated in IATA’s initial
communique regarding the
new local financial criteria
for BSP South Africa (ZA)
stand despite the implementation postponement…” The
assessment will be based on
the 12 month sales period between December 1, 2014 and
November 30, 2015. IATA
said it would communicate
the results directly with each
accredited BSP agent. The South African financial criteria have not been
updated for 15 years and,
ASATA observed, pressure
had been mounting for the
Agency Program Joint Council, comprising five airline
and five agency representatives, to submit its proposals and recommendations to
IATA. ASATA served as an ob-
was a factor driving airlines
to demand bilateral guarantees, an additional burden
for retailers. Now, he said:
“Considering that the new
[local financial] criteria was
agreed upon by the APJC,
it ensures more confidence
with the management of the
risk profile of this market
and would eventually ensure
the removal/elimination of
bilateral financial security
demands. It important to note
that demand for financial security is a commercial decision based on the interactions
between the parties.” own continent, accessibility
was hindering them from doing so. “Visa problems prohibit
these people from travelling, as does accessibility to
flights. Africa is in dire need
of airlift more than anything,
not more hotels,” claimed Mr.
Greenberg.
Delegates discussed the
host destination’s newest
products and services.
Kenyan deputy president,
THE African Travel Association largely ignored the
importance of the role of African tourist boards in developing intra-continental travel
during its 40th World Congress in Nairobi last month.
But Peter Greenberg, travel editor of CBS News, noted
that while the one billionstrong African middle class
was ready to explore their
4
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
Pictured at a recent Zambia Tourism roadshow in Johannesburg (l to r): Mwabashike Nkulukusa, Zambia Tourism
Board Director of Marketing with Jill Coxon and Shaun
Hook of the Travel Learning Centre and Patricia Musopelo-Muyamwa, First Secretary Tourism, High Commission
of the Republic of Zambia. The tourism board reported
arrivals are up for 2015, with 40 percent of Zambia’s
business originating from South and southern Africa. It
intends to hold annual roadshows and more familiarisation visits for South African agents.
SAA’s revival plan threatened by route review continued from page 1
but South African Airways has engaged Treasury and is
set to request permission to withdraw from Abu Dhabi
after details of the internal dog fight over projections for
the route and the suspension of Mr. Bosc emerged.
SAA commenced flights to Abu Dhabi in March and
positioned the destination as a gateway for its passengers heading east, after it axed its own operation to
Beijing and when it withdrew from Mumbai. But the carrier revealed last month, despite an initial
case for the new route, the Abu Dhabi flight had resulted
in substantial losses. SAA beat a hasty retreat following the issue of an accusing and harshly-worded statement regarding the suspension of its Chief Commercial Officer, which claimed
Mr. Bosc had misrepresented revenue projections to the
board that had cost the airline R400-million.
It said Mr. Bosc had been suspended after an investigation by ENSafrica into allegations he had “doctored
the numbers for Abu Dhabi to favour the opening of this
route and sold SAA out” but later retracted its original
statement, saying it had
been distributed “prematurely”.
The statement was issued before Mr. Bosc was
advised of his suspension
and he was still to receive
notice of an inquiry. SAA
later said it regretted any
Accessibility hindering
intra-African travel
BY KATE ELS
IATA has also been working with a service provider
for the introduction of a Default Insurance Programme,
Mr. D’Sa confirmed. Those
details would be communicated at a later date. “IATA is
in the final stages of finalising the evaluation of the DIP
Provider and its proposed
Product,” he said.
I ATA h a s p r ov id e d a
breakdown of the new requirements in the Resources
Centre built into its Customer Portal: www.iata.org/
customer-portal/Pages/LocalResourceCenter.aspx.
William Ruto, urged international and local news organisations to tell more innovative and unique stories about
the continent, portraying it in
a more positive light.
Travel advisories f rom
foreign gover nments also
came under fire from Kenya
Airways’ Chief Executive
Officer, Mbuvi Ngunze, saying they could destroy entire
economies with a blanket approach.
implication Mr. Bosc had been found guilty of the allegations. Although the airline did not respond to questions
about the future of flights to Abu Dhabi, nor its application to the Treasury for a further debt guarantee or
the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Wolf Meyer,
the development puts the Abu Dhabi route, the relationship with Etihad Airways and SAA’s long-haul
strategy, part of its turnaround plan, under threat.
The Treasury had already revealed that a new application was lodged in August, necessary for the airline
to finalise its financial statements. The size of the guarantee was still pending but understood to be subject to
SAA finalising its aircraft lease agreement with Airbus.
A new acting Chief Executive Officer was appointed,
after Thuli Mpshe moved back to her former HR post
to handle complaints from SAA pilots’ union representatives but that is likely to be short-lived as SAA has
apparently identified a new permanent CEO. Ms. Mpshe had welcomed Air China’s arrivals at the
end of October, adamant the carrier was a “fitting and
dependable ally… Our industry is a highly dynamic one
and competition is ruthless. It requires adaptability
and agility. Most importantly, it requires dependable
friends and allies…
“South African Airways can now again offer customers direct access from Johannesburg to Beijing…
and we are excited about our deepening partnership
with Air China… Other BRICS countries, such as Brazil,
will also benefit.”
Club Travel agents experienced the best of Greece
during a recent educational
with Inspirations Travel &
Tours, Turkish Airlines and
Zurich Travel Insurance.
Pictured (from l to r): Poulintha Naidoo, Webtours;
Toni McKnight, 360 Degree
Travel; Tatum Alexander,
Club Travel; Mechaela Adams, Turkish Airlines; Grethe Loubser, HTH Travel and Stefan Roodt, FlightSite.
Comment
2015 has been a challenging year
LOOKING back at 2015, we
do not see a pretty picture.
Trading conditions for
outbound and inbound travel were complicated by an
ill-considered and poorly
implemented immigration/
emigration policy. It was exacerbated by a lack of consultation with the industry
and the obstinate refusal of
the Home Affairs Minister to
acknowledge his poor judgement.
Although there was a belated revision of the rules,
serious damage was done.
Our tanking currency created the biggest challenge to
outbound business and has
been on a historically downward trend for more than 25
years, with no end in sight.
Ter rorist incidents and
the probability of continuing
www.tir.co.za
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
John Wardall
MANAGING EDITOR
Sarah Cornwell
Tel: 021 789 0053
Mob: 072 772 2189
sarah@tir.co.za
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Dominic Wardall
CONTRIBUTORS
Richard Holmes
Sarah Whiteside
Kate Els
PUBLISHER
John Wardall
ADVERTISING
Dominic Wardall
Tel: 021 789 0053
Mob: 082 620 6425
dominic@tir.co.za
threats have caused many
travellers to review their holiday plans in the New Year.
There is no end in sight for
that either.
The airline industry continued its determination to
find ways of skirting around
retailers but, if past experience applies, the pendulum
will swing back before another generation of marketing wizz-kids try again.
South African Airways’
turnaround plan was introduced but management turmoil continues amidst extraordinary goings-on in the
board of directors, led by a
clearly unaccountable and
dubiously competent chairperson with a questionable
agenda. Reliance on pilfering
the poor taxpayer is destined
to continue. The airline’s pi-
The Association of South
African Travel Agents initiated a new consumer awareness drive but a lack of funds
and the high cost of consumer promotion continue to be a
drawback.
Credit card fraud remained
a concern and is spurring the
development of virtual payments and credit card numbers.
A new proliferation of
low-cost domestic carriers
entered the market but history is not on their side and
not all will survive.
A nd con su lt a nt s we re
warned in a court decision
that they could not take clients with them if they left an
agency with impunity.
So much for 2015. Enjoy
the break and Best Wishes
for 2016!
Looking west to Brazil for tourism partnerships
TOUR operators featuring South America and inbound wholesalers agree that additional
flights linking South Africa and Brazil would increase tourism between the two countries
and into the rest of South America. LATAM Airlines Group will introduce flights between
São Paulo and Johannesburg next year. Cape Town Tourism Executive Marketing Director, Velma Corcoran, back in South Africa after the recent ABAV trade show in São Paulo,
makes a case for new tourism cooperation.
CIRCULATION
dominic@tir.co.za
“There is great potential… especially in marketing Cape Town as a year-round destination for food tourism, honeymoons,
adventure, nature and shopping. This would
help to overcome the loss of tourism from
Brazil as a result of Ebola, particularly as the
devaluation of the Brazilian currency has
made South Africa a more attractive destination once more,” Ms. Corcoran explained. But, there is a need to educate Brazil’s tour
operators about South Africa and “to provide more tailored offerings suited to Brazil’s travelling habits. In return, Brazil represents an attractive destination for South
African travellers.”
According to Cape Town Tourism, Brazilian
travel…
• Took a knock in 2015 as a result of Ebola.
• Despite the market from Brazil to SA
showing significant growth in 2013, there
was a 15 percent decline in visitors to CPT
from 2013 and 2014.
• Brazil’s currency has devalued against
the dollar by 50 percent in one year, which
has had a massive impact on willingness to
travel and it has made the US, its primary
destination, very expensive. “This allows for
South Africans to position South Africa as
affordable since the Brazilian Real to rand
exchange rate has not taken as much of a
knock...” said Ms. Corcoran.
• The World Cup in Brazil saw a decline in
Brazilian travel abroad.
• Brazil is still a major tourism market,
spending US$26-billion abroad in 2014,
ninth in the world.
• Brazilians enjoy family travel, particularly
to the theme parks in the US.
• “They prefer to book using… travel agents
in shopping centres, particularly when
booking for countries like South Africa,
ACCOUNTS
Beverley Gough
Brenda Smith
accounts@tir.co.za
ADMINISTRATION
Nerina Nicholson
HEAD OFFICE
9 Ruby Terrace
Noordhoek
Cape Town
PO Box 745
Noordhoek, 7979
Tel: 021 789 0053
REPRESENTATION
UK:
MW Media
info@mwmedia.uk.com
Europe:
Colin Murdoch
Thailand:
World Media Co.
Malaysia:
Raffles Int. Media
PRINTING
Formeset Printers
©TTG Southern Africa
2015
Published by:
TTG Southern Africa CC
Reg no:
1995/030913/23
THE
follow us on twitter
where not much is known about the destination,” Ms. Corcoran commented. • Seasonality has less of an impact for Brazilians when considering travel to South
Africa than for visitors from Europe.
• Very few destination management companies in Brazil are marketing South Africa,
and those that do are not updating their
offerings but providing the same packages.
This creates an opportunity for South African tour operators to highlight fresh packages, attractions or offerings.
Brazil for South Africans…
• Highlights: Rio de Janeiro, Iguazu Falls, the
Amazon, Buzios for beach breaks and the
annual Rio Carnival.
• South America is good-value and has
unique attractions. New airline services
would also bring down pricing.
• In 2012, Brazil received 5.7-million international visitors, and a growth of 0.8 percent
in 2014 over 2013. Comparatively, South
African tourism increased over the same
period by 6.6 percent, to 9,549,236 visitors.
“This increased in 2014 when the World Cup
was held. Brazil’s tourism figures are projected to rise when the Olympic Games are
held in 2016… These events influence Brazil’s exposure and add to the attraction for
South African visitors,” said Ms. Corcoran.
• According to Grant Thornton, visits to
South Africa from Brazil were down by 34
percent in the first quarter of 2015, due to
Ebola and new visa regulations.
“There are parallels between the two
countries in terms of tourism, and there is
an opportunity for both to share a targeted
travel marketing strategy that offers mutual
exposure. As both recover from economic
challenges, these relationships will aid in
developing international tourism,” she said.
GOOD
While the rand remains, and will continue
to be, problematic, retailers have been
greatly assisted by product and pricing
initiatives by suppliers.
twitter.com/TIR_SA
TIR Southern Africa
despite the rocky rand and
weak economy. Tellingly,
high-end product continued
to sell well and suppliers tailored many of their products
to add value and fully-inclusive gained in popularity.
Opportunities were not all
grasped this year and cruise
line GSAs warned that most
retail agencies continued to
miss out on the opportunities
for high commissions and incremental revenue on cruise
sales.
To prove the point, cruise
specialists continued to do
well.
Leading agents identified
land arrangements, cruises
and ancillar y ser vices as
having the most potential to
grow commissions, together
with preferred partner arrangements.
Industry View
Andrew Watson
Tel: 021 447 1724
Mob: 071 677 3858
andrew@tir.co.za
6
lots ref lected the common
perception by censuring the
board with a vote of no-confidence.
Travel agents faced increasing difficulty in finding and hiring experienced,
senior consultants and have
had to face higher remuneration demands as the industry
struggled to be competitive
in the wider job market.
More successful consultants are also finding that a
switch to becoming an ITC
provides lifestyle benefits
and can be more financially
rewarding, if they can adapt
to the independent environment.
Nevertheless, many highstreet agents increasingly
adapted and adopted technology, websites and social
media to grow their business,
•
December 2015
THE
CONGRATULATIONS to Paulette Leong, from
CWT Meetings & Events in Braamfontein, who was
spotted reading TIR at the Kumarakom Lake Resort
in Kerala. Paulette wins an American Tourister Bon
Air 55cm Spinner suitcase, valued at R1,399.
American Tourister Bon Air, a zipped polyprop
collection, prevents brittle breakage. This ultratough material is injection moulded to produce a
modern look with contrasting horizontal lines on
a combination of matt and shiny surfaces. It also
features soft-touch handles and TSA locks.
Available in Pacific blue, lime green,
orange, pink, red, navy,
black and white, the
American Tourister Bon
Air Spinner 55cm
is available from
luggage outlets.
Call for stockists:
031 266 0620
BAD
Unfortunately, the terrorist attacks over
Egypt and in Paris, apart from other nontourism areas, are unlikely to be the last,
inevitably affecting holiday decisions in
2016.
@AmTouristerSA
THE
UGLY
There will be little light at the end of the
runway for SAA until the government
understands the problem and takes the
necessary steps. Unlikely.
Alternative routings and pricing
offsetting Egypt safety concerns
BY SARAH CORNWELL
LOCAL operators expect South
Africans' travel to Egypt will ride
out renewed concern for visitors’
safety and the suspension of some
major airlines’ scheduled flights
to Sharm el Sheikh, following a
suspected bomb, which downed
a Russian aircraft at the end of
October.
It later transpired that a British Thomson Holidays flight had
taken evasive action to avoid a
suspected rocket or missile near
Sharm el Sheikh in August.
Airline services from the UK
and parts of Europe were suspended while officials investigated the crash, which killed more
than 220 Russian holiday makers
returning to St. Petersburg.
Operators said business from
South Africa had been slow to
recover since the Arab Spring in
2011 but had registered positive
growth in 2015, with more packages and competitive rand pricing
to try and grow the destination in
2016.
“It has been a slow recovery
but not necessarily from the rest
of the world… Cairo and Sharm
el Sheikh are seen as two very
separate areas and, when Cairo
was down three years ago, the
coastal area continued to pump,”
said John Ridler, spokesperson
for Thompsons Holidays. Lucinda Tyler, Product Manager, Club Travel, said Hurghada,
another gateway to Egypt’s coastal area, was also popular. She said
there had been more interaction
recently from operators packaging Egypt wanting to grow the
South African market. Ash raf A Hak im Alsayad,
Eg y pt ai r’s General Manager
South Africa, said there were
no cancellations as a result of
the Russian airliner incident and
that its non-stop Johannesburg –
Cairo f lights were selling well.
“Our flights for the second half
of December are full… We have
certain flights where we are overbooked. I think, from this market,
things are fine,” he said.
News Digest
Briefly.
B
oeing has forecast the Middle
East airlines will need 3,180
new airplanes over the next
20 years – mostly single-aisle
– worth an estimated US$730billion. 70 percent of the demand is expected to be driven
by fleet expansion in the region.
Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing
commented that “about 80 percent of the world’s population
lives within an eight-hour flight
of the Arabian Gulf” and that, if
these carriers were not aggregating traffic at their hubs, “many
city pairs... would not otherwise
enjoy such direct itineraries”.
SAT appoints
US manager
BANGU Masisi has been appointed the new US Country Manager
for South African Tourism.
Ms. Masisi previously worked
on developing marketing initiatives for South African Tourism globally and was previously
country manager in Australia and
the Netherlands.
enews updates
Most Read
stories from the
past month...
killings strengthen
1 Paris
case for Schengen
cancellation
Cape Tourism
2 Western
attempts to woo back
Chinese buyers
strategy threatened
3 SAA
after exec’s suspension
implements new
4 IATA
financial criteria
appoints interim
5 SAA
Commercial GM but
denies incumbent is
suspended
EXPATS IN MALI
URGED TO REGISTER
O F F I C I A L S h ave u r g e d
South Africans in Mali to
register on the ROSA system and to keep in contact
with the embassy, following
last month’s terrorist attack
at the Radisson Blu Hotel in
Bamako. The Department
of International Relations
and Cooperation said the
S outh Afr ic an Emb a ss y
would continue to monitor
the situation and safeguard
South African assets and
citizens until normalcy was
resumed.
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
7
ASATA to create guidelines for ITCs
Association says members must agree on acceptable standards before compliance can be policed BY SARAH CORNWELL
THE Association of Southern African Travel Agents
has begun a process to establish operating guidelines
for members employing ITCs
and how they will comply
with its industry and consumer confidence campaign.
Revisions to the association’s terms of reference and
membership agreements are
still subject to the recommendations of a special Member
Advisory Forum, a system
ASATA uses to help steer
policy ma k i ng decision s.
However, Chief Executive
Officer Otto de Vries said
members could ultimately be
asked to revise their agreements with sub-agents and
affiliates to meet new guidelines.
The Member Advisory Forum includes representation
from major consortia and independent and home-working retail brands.
The panel met last month
and has identified and categorised different opportunities for independent consultants in South Africa, from
full-support ITC models to
ticketing services for branded and non-branded affiliates, including independent
ticketing agents. “T he conversation has
shifted,” commented Mr.
De Vries. “This is what happens… If we are looking to
present to the travelling consumer a stamp of approval
from ASATA… and to present members that have a
high level of professionalism
and ethics, we need to make
sure that, within our member
base, that they are acting in a
manner that is compliant and
aligned with ASATA’s mandate. It does not matter what
model you are presenting.”
He hoped this would encourage new membership
and participation from affiliate agencies. “We made a decision two years ago, because
of the massive growth of this
particular sector, to look at
our membership criteria. We
did not want a scenario where
it was too restrictive [for an
independent to join].” ASATA has amended the
financial criteria for membership to allow for smaller
business entities to use a registered third-party accountant to prepare and submit a
financial report on behalf of
the new applicant. “What we cannot do is create a framework that tries to
define a business model…
What we can do is look at
procedures and the terms of
engagement that, in the long
run, will keep encouraging a
strong business practice and
ethic that protects and... delivers a professional offering
to the travelling consumer.”
ASATA’s Member Advisory Forum is now working
out what compliance requirements might look like and
establishing what their roles
and responsibilities are. Any
proposed changes would first
be debated before being pre-
the issue. The issue is: where
does the buck stop? We are
trying to ensure members of
ASATA are doing everything
they can to ensure compliance…”.
Retailers hope the ongoing
discussions will contribute
to the professionalism of the
sector as well as the ASATA
brand.
Mladen Lukic, General
Manager, Travel Counsellors South Africa, said, from
“… We need to make sure that, within our
member base, that they are acting in a manner that is compliant and aligned with ASATA’s
mandate. It does not matter what model you
are presenting.” – Otto de Vries, ASATA
sented to ASATA’s members
and its board.
“If they would impact our
ter ms of reference or the
association’s constitution,
those changes would still
need to be voted on and approved – but I suspect we
will see more recommended
changes to members’ operating guidelines,” Mr. De Vries
remarked.
“ASATA is not going to
tell you what constitutes an
ITC… I think we have gotten
past that point and everyone
understands that is not really
a company perspective: “It
would be entirely obsolete
for us to try and categorise
the actual term ‘ITC’… What
needs to be categorised and
put into some sort of framework is the behaviour of the
host company because that
determines all outcomes. It is
vital to know that the [ASATA] membership requires a
certain standard.
“Just like in other industries where licensing is required, we must obtain a certain framework we all agree
to and then that framework
needs to be policed… We
can lear n from the insurance industry… which has a
comparable licensing model.
Nobody wants to prescribe
the commercial element of a
home-working opportunity
but… must agree to a set of
rules… I am hoping, through
ASATA’s work, we will be
able to achieve that.”
“From my perspective, any
host company that provides
an avenue for a consultant
(employed or ITC) to issue
through them should be willing to take on the risk and not
only the reward and therefore
the investment in resources
and processes is critical in
this process. eTravel manages the administration and
cash management on behalf
of our ITCs, which thereby
protects the consumer, the
supplier as well as the ITC
whose expertise is not necessarily cash book reconciliations and projections,” commented Tammy Hunt, eTravel
Operations Director.
“ASATA is there to protect
the consumer and to ensure
the consumer feel comfortable dealing with a member
of the associat ion… and
therefore should also feel
comfortable knowing that
the relevant agent/agency has
the correct processes in place
to protect the traveller and
suppliers interests. Generally, if an ITC defaults and
they are responsible for their
own administration and cash
management it is usually due
to the lack of the required
expertise to handle this side
of the business and not necessarily because the ITC is
genuinely out to default.
“It is not just about unscrupulous people. It is also
for the ITC who thought that
they could do everything but
could not manage [all the aspects of the business on their
own] and got themselves into
trouble.”
Wally Gaynor, Club Travel
Managing Director, said he
would “love to see” more
ITCs joining ASATA and
getting involved but felt “it is
ironic that we as a consortia
pay ASATA fees for all our
members regardless but that,
particularly the ITCs, say
ASATA has not convinced
them that it’s worth their
while to join.”
Mr. Gaynor urged prospective ITCs to consider
all of their options carefully.
“There are consortia that not
only take 30/40 percent of
your income but have contracts that are so onerous on
ITCs that they would be illegal in some countries.”
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
9
ITCs can flourish with proper measure of support BY SARAH WHITESIDE
THE number of independent
travel agents in South Africa
has grown rapidly but top
consultants are adamant that
those entering the field better have their groundwork
laid and be prepared to work
harder than ever to make
their businesses succeed.
Top-ear ning ITCs with
lin ks to specialist home-
working companies listed
f lexible working hours and
the chance to be their own
boss as two factors that motivated them to start their own
business. Changing personal
circumstances was another
common contributing factor.
“Lisa Ballerini and I used
to work together at an agency. In 2007 we both left the
company but found that we
were not enjoying our new
ITC feedback
ADVICE from some of
South Africa’s top-performing independents…
“Be prepared to work hard
for what you want. Get up
every day, put clothes on,
put make up on, do your
hair, and ‘go to the office’.”
– Cornelia Stengel,
Travel Counsellors (left)
“Always keep clients’ money separate from your own.
Build up a good cash reserve – there will be good
month and bad months – and look at your earnings
over the year.”
– Veronica Cullis, 1to1 Travel (SWG ticketing
agent)
“Embrace change and run with new systems.”
– Sherilee Hugo, Fabtrav (Club Travel ITC)
“Try and start with at least a core of clientele. People
are very careful these days who they give their money
to, and quite rightly so.”
– Lulu Levine, Lulu Levine Travel (Club Travel ITC)
positions. My old clients kept
phoning me to ask if I could
please go back to travel and
one even offered to give me
the money to start up my own
agency. Lisa and I then went
for coffee and started doing
homework on who to work
through. I had met a very
successful ITC (Tanya Jacob)
and she told me about eTravel. We met with Tammy Hunt
and decided to join up with
them. It was frightening at
first, as I had not been unemployed since I had left school
– and this was 18 years later
- but we went ahead and have
never looked back,” said Angela Meyer of Above and Beyond Travel.
“I started in February 2015
- almost two years ago now.
I left a stable travel consultant position, as I wanted a
situation that was more flexible and less onerous. I didn’t
know exactly what I was in
for but it turned out to be
the best possible solution for
me,” said Gail Parker, a Harvey World Travel Group ITC.
“I purchased a small Independent IATA travel agency.
my own working for someone else and earning a salary,” said Lyn Rawraway from
021Travel, an eTravel ITC.
“In the last eight years, we
have grown our client base
and our turnover. When we
“I think opening an ITC at this moment in time is fairly tough
given the current economy. However, there are still plenty
of opportunities around. Make sure that your service is
impeccable, overheads are at a minimum, fees are competitive and you are part of a consortium that looks after
you…” – Giles Clinton, Director of Checkout Travel,
Club Travel non-branded ITC
After managing the agency
for 18 months I found that
I was bogged down by the
admin and long hours and I
had to make a life-changing
decision to ensure my own
wellbeing,” said Charmaine
Higgins, a Travel Counsellor.
“Learn, learn, learn and know your
geography.”
– Rike Gratrix, Travel Traders
(SWG ticketing agent)
“Ask for referrals from each and
every client [and] advertise yourself out there wherever you are.
Make sure your friends and family know exactly what you do so
that they can also refer you.”
– Charmaine Higgins,
Travel Counsellors
(right)
“I had retired from managing a big office, was totally
burnt out and ready to take
a complete break from travel, but two of my high-end
clients asked me to ‘just do
their accounts',” said Veron-
ica Cullis, whose 1to1 Travel
company tickets th rough
the Serendipity Worldwide
Group. Most con su lt a nt s said
the first year had been their
hardest but that, with hard
work, those difficulties had
been overcome. “The first eight months
after the inception of Fabtrav
were a nightmare. Despite
having clients I cried out of
pure frustration due mainly
to infrastructure problems
from Telkom and regular
power outages,” recalled
Sherilee Hugo, a Club Travel
ITC. “This far down the line I
am able to look back and see
that it was one of the wisest decisions I have made. I
would never have been able
to bring up two children on
started… we used to marvel
at the ITCs who generated
over a million in sales and
that was our first goal. I think
it took us about six months.
It has become a lot more difficult to compete with the
Internet now but at the end
of the day our great service
keeps our clients booking
with us,” added Ms. Meyer.
One of the main similarities that emerged was that
the ITCs’ business was split,
in most cases nearly evenly,
between corporates and leisure clients, with most ITCs
suggesting that the small to
medium enterprises had become the backbone of their
business.
“My current balance of
clientele is 45 percent leisure
versus 55 percent corporate.
continued on page 11
ITCs can flourish with the right measure of support
What can a newcomer do immediately to grow their business, and what support is provided by head office? TIR’s Sarah Cornwell
spoke with the ITC groups for their advice...
Tammy Hunt, Operations Director of eTravel, advised trav-
el’s entrepreneurs: “The most important thing is to visit your clients regularly and communicate;
consultants need to send out specials and remind clients of
the value that they add. Clients can go online or to another
consortium quite easily… if consultants don’t show their clients the value they are adding, they will lose their business.”
ITCs can flourish
with proper support
continued from page 10
I am able to accurately check
on this whenever I like due
to our back systems at Travel
Counsellors that I have access to 24 hours a day,” explained Tamarin Seymour. “W hen I joined Travel
Counsellors my business was
based on 60 percent leisure
and 40 percent corporate. I
now work mainly in the corporate field and concentrate
mostly on SMEs. My business is now 80 percent corporate and 20 percent leisure,”
said Ms. Higgins. In the leisure area, consultants reported a number of
varied strengths but, as with
the general market, Thailand,
Mauritius and cruising were
the strongest sellers.
A f t e r j o i n i n g Tr a v e l
Counsellors in 2010, Marijke
Davel is Travel Counsellors
South Africa’s top TC for
2015. “My hubby was the one
who convinced me to take
the leap… He is always by
biggest fan. I went to their
(Travel Counsellors) roadshow and I was sold. Their
system blows me away and
now, five years later, it is
even better… Travel Counsellors screams family support… I also loved the idea of
having the time to really get
to know my clients better and
to become a friend to them,
rather than just an agent.”
Ms. Davel said: “Mauritius is always popular mainly
because it is close, no visas
are required, it's fab for kids
and you can go for two days,
seven days or three weeks if
you can afford it!”
Mauritius, Thailand, Zanzibar and local breaks “are
probably the most affordable and popular products for
South Africans right now due
to the economy. Having said
that, due to the area we are
based in, ski, cruise and Europe are also very popular,”
said Giles Clinton, Director
of Checkout Travel, a member of Club Travel, based in
upmarket Dainfern.
Mr. Clinton rebranded his
Club Travel franchised outlet
and switched to Club Travel’s
non-branded ITC option in
2014, the same year Holly
Pereira, a long-serving employee, became a 50 percent
partner in the business.
“We run our business in
an extremely competitive
area of Johannesburg, with
about five travel agents in a
five-kilometre radius… It all
came down to being in the
right location and offering
personalised service, which
has pulled us through over
the years,” said Mr. Clinton.
“C he ckout Tr avel h a s
adapted to the times by adding an online component to
the company as well as playing a major role in social media where we run campaigns
as well as a blog about a
whole range of topics thereby
trying to engage with people
about what is best for their
next travel trip.
“I think opening an ITC at
this moment in time is fairly
tough given the current economy.
“However, there are still
ple nt y of o p p o r t u n it ie s
around. You will want to
make sure that your service
is impeccable, overheads are
at a minimum, fees are competitive and you are part of a
consortium that looks after
you. If you are opening up an
actual shop a good location
is imperative but, above all,
be adaptable and be able to
move with the times!”
Mo s t I TC s c a nva s s e d
praised their current consortiums, crediting the services
and people who work behind
the scenes for their support. “It is an absolute pleasure dealing with Club Travel.
They deliver what they say,”
added Ms. Hugo.
“Phenix (Travel Counsellors’ in-house booking system) gives me the option to
book accommodation anywhere in the world, in one
system. We have negotiated
rates with literally hundreds
of suppliers, and the value
that Phenix brings saves me
so much time, and my margins are higher,” said Travel
Counsellor Cornelia Stengel.
“Working through eTravel
we have the structure that
any agency would require to
operate but the difference is
that they have our best interests at heart.
“Through their guidelines
of selling preferred operators
and having regular workshops, they also guide us as
what is best suited to each
individual’s needs,” said Ms.
Meyer.
eTravel provides full assistance and support with regards
to sales pitches to new potential clients for ITCs.
Club Travel Franchise Director, Jo Fraser, encouraged
independent consultants to consider targeting more niche,
specialised markets, from health and wellness travel to
cruising, to grow their new business.
“I attended a forum in the US, with thousands and thousands of ITCs. Most of them work in niche markets… Cruise
agencies are also growing their business. And think about
the inbound opportunities, especially medical tourism,” she
said. The franchise group has four home-working opportunities: a branded agency with IATA accreditation, or without, a
non-branded agency with IATA (Associate) or non-branded
agency without IATA (ticketing) option.
“We have seen quite a bit of growth in the number of
sign-ups for our IATA non-branded agency option this year,
which is quite different to previous years,” said Ms. Fraser.
Members are able to draw product from our website and
feed it into theirs. Our technology also provides [airline]
availability from other markets… our fees are kept very low
and, aside from our technology, definitely a major drawcard, a key point for us is the upfront deals and overrides we
have in place…”
“We encourage regular training sessions at least two to
three times a month with suppliers and also offer webinars,
as well as yearly conferences,” said Donovan Moodley,
Serendipity Worldwide Group Sales Manager.
“For us, right now, the SWG app seems to be the most
popular platform in terms of flexibility and ease. Each
member has access to our app. [Suppliers] can create and
add a video, upload it to YouTube and then we share it
through the app. We try and add new content weekly and
also encourage all suppliers to participate...
“We find that more and more it is the senior consultants
who have gone the independent route, especially if they
have a solid client base and following. However, not always
do they have experience on how to run a business and this
is where we come in, get the relevant experts to consult
with these individuals and implement strategies. SWG
provides supporting documentation, advice and assistance
when it comes to tenders etc…”
Travel Counsellors provides marketing support and leadgeneration tools, with personalised websites provided at
no cost. There is 24/7 business support, and a New Starter
Programme and business development executives “who
will work with Travel Counsellors individually to help them
to achieve their goals and to win more business,” said Michelle Bullmore, Marketing & Recruitment Manager.
“Despite market conditions, our TCs have enjoyed year on
year growth of more than 16 percent this year.
We have our own in-house system, Phenix, which allows Travel Counsellors to dynamically package their own
itineraries using our specially
negotiated fares with car hire or
transfers and they have access
to hundreds of thousands of
hotels as well as city attractions... Plus, it has a default
commission of 20 percent and
more.”
“I attended a forum in the US, with thousands and thousands of ITCs. Most of
them work in niche markets… Cruise agencies are also growing their business. And think about the inbound opportunities, especially medical
tourism.” – Jo Fraser, Club Travel
Suppliers adapt marketing
initiatives to address ITCs
BY SARAH WHITESIDE
THE recent growth in the
number of independent travel
consultants in South Africa
is driving tour operators, airlines and other suppliers to
revise sales and marketing
initiatives to capture more
business from this powerful
sales force.
Suppliers have all identified physical accessibility
– location – as the biggest obstacle in reaching this group
as the majority work from
home.
Regular, in-person visits
by sales executives have traditionally been the core marketing tactic suppliers have
employed but, as many ITCs
are not comfor table with
a constant stream of sales
visits to their homes, and as
ITCs work f lexible hours
and are not always available
during work hours, suppliers
have had to adapt.
Workshop training sessions now often feature an
audience of predominantly
ITCs, as these consultants
acknowledge the importance
of constantly improving their
product knowledge and have
the flexibility to attend functions during office hours.
Webinar training sessions,
group breakfast and coffee
training sessions have also
become popular.
Re b e c c a Br ye r, S a le s
Manager, kulula holidays,
said ITCs were a very important element of the company’s sales strategy and
kulula had implemented a
multi-tiered approach to engage with ITCs, including
regular mini workshops and
breakfasts in the suburbs of
major cities. Representatives
attend home-working specialists’ and consortiums’ annual workshops. ITCs were
also invited on educationals. Joanne Visagie, National
Sales & Marketing Manager,
Beachcomber Tours, said the
company had long recognised the value and potential
of this group.
“Our support from ITC
models that are strong and
sustainable is growing,” she
said. Beachcomber keeps
in touch with ITCs through
webcams or webinar sessions
and hosts regular product update get-togethers. The operator also offers ITCs the
infrastructure support they
need in order to make running their businesses easier.
“We respect the ITC’s prefer-
ences in where they would
like to meet, as some consultants might not want us to
visit them at home.”
Travel Vision’s Sales and
Marketing Manager, Annemarie Lexow, advised: “ITCs
tend to be reluctant to commit to specif ic times and
dates for meetings. We have
more success if we arrange
group breakfast meetings for
them instead.”
George A rg y ropoulos,
Cruises International Chief
Executive Officer, stressed
the oppor t unity for more
niche ITCs and specialists.
“I cannot stress enough the
benefits travel consultants
enjoy by selling cruises. “We are here to take out
trade partners through each
step, together, until they are
confident to do it on their
own. And, even then, we are
available 24/7 to assist them
to grow their cruise sales,
grow their customer base and
grow their profits.
“Selling cruises is simply
the best product any leisure
– and for that matter any corporate consultant – can sell.
There is no other product that
offers the value for money,
unique, wow exper ience,
repeat business and word-
of-mouth marketing that a
cruise does – and, on top of
that, handsome commission
earnings.” From an airline perspective, Brenda Mitchell, District Sales Manager, Singapore Airlines, said the
company angled most of its
communication towards consortium head offices, which
is then filtered out to the individual ITCs. “ITCs that work from their
head offices are easy for our
sales executives to call on,
while those that work from
home are less accessible for
face-to-face meetings. We
see a lot of ITCs at various
workshops that we host and
we also try to attend as many
consortium conferences and
events as possible in order to
engage with this market.”
All suppliers confirmed
that they have seen growth
from ITCs and believed this
segment would continue to
grow, although they face
many of the same challenges
as their high-street counterparts.
“It is difficult to survive in
the current economy if you
do not have a solid following of loyal customers,” Ms.
Lexow said.
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
11
Island resorts net more business
with all-inclusive packages
BY RICHARD HOLMES
Beachcomber Tours’ latest agent educational visited the Shandrani Resort
& Spa in Mauritius, a popular option for couples. Pictured (l to r): Marcele
Smit, Flight Centre Kolonnade; Christine Sing, Flight Centre Chilli Lane; Marcos Pedro, Flight Centre Broadacres; Elmien Viljoen, Pentravel Woodlands;
Lilani Rittles, Pentravel Benmore; and Tanya Viljoen from Beachcomber
with (back) Kysle Andrews, Pentravel Rosebank.
ALL-INCLUSIVE packages have
become a key product for upmarket island resorts but also,
increasingly, for travel further
abroad and at sea. The attraction
is growing as the rand exchange
rate continues to weaken.
“As budgets get tighter, clients
are considering additional value
in terms of paying upfront and in
full for package holidays, thereby
locking in the rate of exchange
and further containing costs to
improve the whole travel experience,” said Chantelle Browne,
kulula holidays Senior Product
Manager.
“Mauritius is still the most
popular comprehensive all-inclusive choice, however, we have
seen a demand for cruising...”
“South Africans definitely prefer all-inclusive holidays,” agreed
Johann Strydom, Managing Director, World Leisure Holidays.
“They like to know what they will
be in for before they travel, and
budget accordingly.”
“The demand for all-inclusive
packages has grown as South African travellers fear the situation
of facing their bill at the end of
an international holiday,” added
Sue Howells, Sales & Marketing Manager, African Synergy,
which represents Constance Hotels and Resorts. “Many travellers
don't actually mind paying more
for their holiday, as long as it is
budgeted, with no nasty surprises.”
All-inclusive packages are
particularly attractive for family groups which are also on the
lookout for value. All-inclusive
travel is “equally as popular with
honeymooners and couples,” said
Flora Fubbs, Senior Manager:
Contracting, Marketing and Operations for The Holiday Factory.
“With the falling rand, a lot of
clients want to cover as much
upfront as they can.”
“The rand fares badly against
most foreign currencies in terms
of buying power, so an all-inclusive option is very appealing
for most destinations, especially
Mauritius and Seychelles,” said
Beachcomber Tours’ National
Sales & Marketing Manager,
Joanne Visagie.
A nd the f ig u res speak for
themselves. Up to 80 percent of
clients staying at Beachcomber’s four-star properties select
the all-inclusive Packages at Le
Mauricia, Le Canonnier and Le
Victoria. At Shandrani, the figure
is even higher, with almost 90
percent of guests opting for the
premium all-inclusive Serenity
Plus package. With children younger than six
years of age enjoying many complimentary features, “all-inclusive is a winner... where families
can budget correctly and then really relax and enjoy the holiday”,
explained Ms. Visagie. “It makes
for a carefree happy holiday for
parents and the whole family and
everyone has a greater holiday
experience.”
Before recommending an allinclusive package, it is worth considering their destination. While
continued on page 13
Briefly.
R
eed Travel Exhibitions has signed a
global agreement with
the oneworld airline
alliance, securing discounts for delegates
and one partner travelling across the alliance’s
network to any of its 19
shows taking place next
year. Bookings open this
month at w w w.oneworld.com/events.
12
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
Insight expands its premium tour programme for 2016/17 M
Briefly.
BY SARAH WHITESIDE
I NSIGH T Vacat ion s ha s
launched its new collection,
Luxury Gold, for 2016/7. The
programme features more
than 30 itineraries in Europe,
India, Bhutan, Nepal, the US,
Hawaii, Canada and South
America. Pictured (above) at a launch event in Johannesburg
last month, Pieter Beyers, Insight Vacations General
Manager and Amanda Hardy, The Travel Corporation.
The new Luxury Gold programme includes an eight-day
East Coast US tour from New York, with accommodation, breakfasts, a welcome dinner and two highlight
dinners, from R40,700 pps.
Based on four- and fivestar hotels, centrally located
and close to major attractions, the Luxury Gold collection differs from Insight’s
standard tours in only featuring premium five-star hotels,
including the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, the
Capri Palace in Capri and the
Milestone in London.
A Michelin-starred restaurant visit is included in
each tour. Coaches are Wi-Fi
equipped, private transfers
are provided and tips are included.
An early booking promotion with savings of 10 percent applies to all new bookings until January 29.
arriott International and Starwood expect to conclude their merger
mid-2016. This will
create the world’s
largest hotel company, with 1.1-million
rooms in more than
5,500 hotels in 100plus countries. The
companies said their
loyalty programmes
should be enhanced
after the merger but
it still is not clear
how they will be integrated. There are
more than 54-mill i o n M a r r i ot t Re wards members and
21-million Starwood
Preferred Guests.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ new Seven Seas Explorer
enters service in mid-2016. Explorer will feature 375
suites, with the largest balconies in the industry and is
being billed as the most luxurious ship ever built. Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is to undergo a major refurbishment, beginning in May 2016. The refit will include
a new look for all 172 Grills suites and Grill restaurants,
which are being reconfigured with more tables for two. The Mara Toto camp in Kenya, which was damaged in
a flash flood last month, will remain closed for the short
term, with plans to relocate the camp to a new location.
Great Plains Conservation CEO, Dereck Joubert, said
the new camp would likely be positioned within a conservancy. The company is upgrading those customers
with forward bookings, affected by Mara Toto’s closure,
to the Mara Plains Camp.
Silversea has launched its 2017 programme, with 246
voyages. The 116-day World Cruise 2017 will depart San
Francisco on January 6, 2017, operated by the Silver
Whisper, with visits to 62 destinations in 25 countries.
The Minor Hotel Group is developing its first AVANI
resort in Queensland, Australia, due to open in 2017.
Club Travel consultants and affiliates reported an “unforgettable experience in sensational Seychelles” after a
returning home from a recent educational operated by
World Leisure Holidays, in partnership with Air Seychelles
and Zurich Insurance. Pictured (back, from left): Lizelle
Oosthuizen, Webtours; Ursula Viljoen, Centurion Travel;
Minette Fourie, Club Travel; Paula Ferreira, Morvest Travel;
Ursula Kroot, World Leisure Holidays; Gillian Laubser, Africape Travel and Leandre Coetzee, FlightSite with (front)
Lois Johnson, Achievement Awards and Lynda Hoppe and
Maria Dorazio, both Waka Travel.
Thailand to add
value, upgrades Island resorts net more business...
continued from page 12
THAILAND is to start actively promoting intra-ASEAN travel in foreign markets,
with new combination itineraries, in a drive to raise
tourist spend and enhance
the visitor experience across
the entire region. Thailand’s Minister of
Tourism and Spor t, Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, told
buyers at last month’s World
Travel Market in London,
the intention was to position
Thailand as a “quality leisure
destination”. To motivate visitors to
stay longer and spend more,
he said, “we need to provide
value-added products and
services”.
A new logo for Amazing
Thailand was also int roduced. Airport facilities in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya are
being expanded and cruise
facilities in Phuket will be
upgraded. The Minister said
new cruise facilities would
be added in Krabi, Ko Samui and Surat Thani and that
Thailand wanted to develop a
‘super yacht’ market.
New ‘two countries, one
destination’ packages will
capitalise on connectivity to
Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao
PDR and Vietnam, the Minister explained.
island destinations such as
Zanzibar, Mauritius and the
Maldives typically see guests
spending most of their time
in the resort, in destinations
such as Thailand and Bali
honeymooners and couples
may want to explore dining
options beyond the resort,
meaning the all-inclusive
premium offers less value.
“All-inclusive packages
are more commonly booked
in destinations or resorts that
the client will most likely
be spending the majority of
their time at the resort or
hotel itself, and not be venturing out and about a lot,
as they would lose the value
of the package,” added Ms.
Howells. C o n s t a n c e of fe r s t h e
‘Cristal All-Inclusive’ package as a supplementary option at Belle Mare Plage in
Mauritius and Halaveli in
the Maldives. The package
is standard at Moofushi in
Maldives and Tsarabanjina
in Madagascar.
W hile all-inclusive offerings are usually associated with island escapes, ski
resorts are another option
to cash in on added value.
Along with the Club Med,
the new Robinson Club product from Pure Skiing “caters
perfectly for this segment,”
said the operator’s General
Manager Greg Taylor. Robinson Club has allinclusive products in Austria and Switzerland. Packages include meals, drinks
at mealtimes, ski hire, lift
passes, ski lessons and kids’
clubs. “At times of great fluctuation of the rand exchange
rate, such a fully-inclusive
package offers peace of mind
to our clients,” he said.
Sell These
Beachcomber has seven nights at Le Mauricia
from R10,910 pps, excluding taxes of approximately
R4,000. Upgrade to all-inclusive from R495 pppn for
unlimited selected drinks throughout the day as well as
with meals. Lunch daily, plus pancakes each afternoon
as well as baguettes throughout the day and mini bar.
Valid for travel on certain dates January 25 – March 18,
2016.
The Holiday Factory has packaged seven nights,
all-inclusive, at Uroa Bay Beach Resort in Zanzibar,
from R14,360 pp. Valid January 20 – March 30, 2016.
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
13
Personalised, unique experiences lead in the luxury segment
BY SARAH CORNWELL
“U N FORGETTA BLE experiences” and “exotic location” top the list of key words
operators and wholesalers
use to describe chart-topping
product and packages for the
luxury travel segment. They also say retailers
can expect more last-minute
booking decisions, longer
stays and group bookings for
trips with extended family. Mega n D’A rcy, k ulula
holidays Product Manager,
said: “The profile would differ from person to person
but, we would say, the South
African luxury traveller is
relatively well travelled and
is looking for cost-effective
travel without compromising
on the quality of the product. The booking pattern can
vary but we are noticing a
trend in last minute decision
makers, deciding and acting
quickly. [They] are looking
for something new that they
have not experienced in the
best possible settings and for
the most luxurious way to
immerse themselves with the
destination.”
Crowd favourites prevail
W hile the luxur y market
may not be kulula holidays’
core market, “we are still receiving quotes for five-star
and luxury product… And
while the middle class market seems to have tightened
its belt, the luxury passenger
is still travelling but being
more discerning on price,”
Ms. D’Arcy commented.
World Leisure Holidays
has recently expanded its
product line-up aimed at
upmarket clients to include
Réunion and resorts in Seychelles and Abu Dhabi.
Beachcomber’s National
Sales & Marketing Manager,
Joanne Visagie, recommended the Sainte Anne Resort &
Spa in the Seychelles for its
exotic location and the exclusivity of staying on your own
island. The island is a few minutes’ speedboat t r a nsfer
from Mahé, allowing for convenient transfers and easy
day-trips to nearby Mahé
and, an hour away by power
boat, Praslin and La Digue.
Sainte Anne also has the
option to upgrade to a Pool
Villa (from R1,470 pppn).
In Mauritius, Beachcomber’s Royal Palm is a longtime favourite of luxury trav-
ellers from around the world.
“The word ‘luxury has, in
many cases, been overused
and in some respects ‘degraded’… Everything has its
‘luxury components’ but, in
the view of the experience
luxury travellers, a luxury
hotel would mean something
more specific.
“Hotel guests paying high
luxury hotel rates have the
right to expect certain stand-
ards, in terms of service,
rooms, dining,” said Ms. Visagie.
Establishing a
customer profile
“Cost is not a defining parameter for luxury travel,”
said Ma rk Buck , Un ited
Europe Managing Director.
“Ask any family of four that
wants to go to Disney World
in Orlando – with flights and
a week at any of the three-star
All-Stars hotels will set you
back thousands… and you
still haven’t eaten. Luxury
travel is more about the exclusive experience. We suspect budget travellers would
consider a five-star hotel to
be a milestone that determines luxury travel. While
considered decadent, we
don’t believe [that] is a true
continued on page 16
Sell These
Five nights at Beachcomber’s Royal Palm in Mauritius in a Junior Suite, flights with SAA
ex-JNB, approximate taxes, personalised meet and greet service, private transfers and
breakfast and dinner daily, from R43,980 pps.
Northern Lights in Style, with Inspirations Travel & Tours, from R44,380 pps. In-
cludes private return airport transfers, one-night accommodation in a new Kelo-Glass
Igloo, with breakfast, a three-course Lapp dinner, three more nights’ accommodation
in a queen suite and a private northern lights hunting tour by husky, valid for travel
January – April from R44,380 pps.
Luxury three-night Zambezi canoe safaris with Dreams are from R23,370 pps, valid
until November 30, 2016.
World Leisure Holidays, which has added Seychelles and Réunion to its portfolio, has
also introduced packages for Abu Dhabi. Seven nights at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort from R30,700 pps.
Medjumbe to reopen
with a new look
Club Travel agents and affiliates explored the best of the Maldives during a recent educational hosted by The Holiday Factory, in partnership with Emirates and Zurich Travel
Insurance. The group went jet-skiing, scuba diving and paddle boating. Pictured (from
left): Sanet Goosen, Club Travel Zoolake; Celeste Smith, Emirates; Morne Duraan, The
Holiday Factory; Candice Giloi, True Blue Travel; Rene Simpson, Simpson Conferences;
Holly Pereira, Checkout Travel; BJ Klein, Chelsea Travel; Caron Crocker, Club Travel
Branded ITC; Tracey Visscher, FlightSite and Paulo Giuricich, CanCan Travel.
14
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
BY RICHARD HOLMES
THE Anantara Medjumbe
Island Resort & Spa in the
Quirimbas Archipelago in
northern Mozambique will
reopen this month, following
a four-month renovation.
The resort is on an island
one-kilometre long and 300
metres wide. The 12 private
villas have been given a complete overhaul: plunge pools
have been replaced with larger splash pools, with the addition of a sea-facing ‘champagne step’ for sundowners.
The outdoor furnishings on
each villa’s private deck have
been replaced, while indoors
the décor and amenities have
been updated. The upgrades were needed to bring the resort in line
with the Anantara standards,
commented Michele Abraham, Regional Marketing
Communications Manager
– Southern Africa for the Minor Hotel Group. The renovations extend to
the main communal area and
new lighting and bar facilities have been installed. One of the most notable
new additions will be all but
invisible to guests as, with no
electricity or water supplies
from the mainland, Anantara
Medjumbe is entirely selfsufficient when it comes to
power and desalinated sea-
family travellers to northern
Mozambique have missed
the laid-back ambience of
Anantara’s Matemo resort to
the south.
The resort remains closed,
and re-opening will require
a major refurbishment. That
A glimpse of the new Medjumbe’s refreshed villa interiors.
water.
A switch to solar energy is
underway and by early-2016
the island’s dedicated solar
power plant will slash diesel
consumption by more than
70 percent. Anantara Medjumbe is
ideal for honeymooners but
would include adding additional accommodation options to the existing 24 villas,
said Ms. Abraham: “Architectural plans and re-opening
dates are not yet confirmed
and, due to the scope of the
project, it would only be likely to re-open in 2017.”
Personalised, unique experiences lead...
continued from page 14
marker of luxury travel; there
is a higher level of service in
the luxury travel arena that is
successfully being promoted
and consumed,” he said. Personalisation has become key, agreed Ms. Visagie. At Beachcomber’s Royal
Palm Mauritius, dossiers are
kept to record client preferences, special requests and
important dates, from birthdays to anniversaries. “Serv ic e i s t a i lor e d ex a c t ly
according to a client’s preference,” she said.
Elegance and exclusivity
could mean “a combination
of Rovos Rail and a stay at
the Royal Livingstone in
Zambia; a river cruise on the
Zambezi Queen or a deluxe
ski holiday at St Anton in
Austria”, commented Erica
Barrett, Dreams’ Chief Executive Officer. For an exotic location, Ms.
Barrett suggested Cervinia
in Italy and the “sights and
sounds of ancient Cappadocia” in Turkey. “ T he lu x u r y t r avel le r
book i ng pat ter n var ies,”
commented Sue Howells,
Constance Hotels & Resorts.
“There are many that book
their family holidays in advance, and those that do lastminute bookings. On average, they may travel three
to four times a year, with
two being international and
lengthier, ‘hassle-free’ travel
with the most direct of routes
and access is a must,” she
said.
“The market wants value
for money. Travellers are
willing to spend if they feel
they are getting value,” said
Ms. Barrett. And value could
mean “exotic locations with
a wide range of facilities…
[Travellers] also demand
outstanding service and an
experience that is unforgettable”. Dreams, which has just
expanded its products to
include a range of new ski
breaks, has seen a higher volume of luxury bookings in
2015 “and we have noticed
spend on luxury bookings
has increased”. Although
there had been a tendency
to travel less frequently, this
market generally booked a
longer holiday, Ms. Barrett
said. “Generally these travellers
book well in advance, are
experienced and independent
travellers. Luxury travellers
now include family travel
and the expectation is that the
holidays they book should
accommodate all generations
of the family wanting to travel together,” she explained.
Thailand caters well for the
high-end market and there is
good availability of luxury
escapes that are “easier on
the pocket” given the rate of
exchange, said Jacqui Carr,
Product Manager, The Holi-
day Factory. “Thailand has tons of fivestar exclusive escapes,” she
said. And “… there is five
star, and then there is five
star plus plus…”
More growth predicted
For The Holiday Factory, the
upper end of the market generally books once or twice
per year, “sometimes within
a week of travel, even the
day prior to departure to a
small degree,” Ms. Carr revealed. “We have definitely
seen an increase in larger
families and groups of families travelling together to
one resort and looking for a
five-star experience with all
the expectations of the facilities that a five-star property
would offer.” Kulula holidays Senior
Product Manager, Chantelle
Browne, commented: “… We
are finding that [demand]
has shifted away from the
classics, like Mauritius, and
become more prominent in
other areas, such as cruising,
the Maldives, Europe, the US
and the exotic destinations of
the Far East.”
Favourites, such as Finland, along with Croatia and
Santorini top Inspirations
Travel & Tours’ list of exotic locations and are recommended for exclusivity and
unique experiences. ITT’s
clientele generally book one
holiday per year, two to six
months before depar ture,
said Stacey Rampersadh. Ms. Rampersadh also noticed requests for families
had risen in 2015 and said
the majority of ITT’s premium customers had opted for
guided holidays as opposed
to independent touring, travelled abroad and opted to
book premium ancillary services and transfers. Value-adds remain an important sales tool.
“Ou r luxu r y t ravellers
have generally taken a full
suite of ser vices, namely
door-to-door transfers, guided – but private – touring always independent and, whilst
catered, not fully. It tends to
be reservations in top restaurants. In terms of family
travel, there is no real distinction, we have dealt with
Seyunique has seven nights for two adults at Constance
Ephelia Seychelles with business class fares, villa accommodation, private transfers and airport taxes from
R115,963. Above: abseiling is offered at Ephelia.
couples and small groups,”
said Mr. Buck.
“The general stereotype…
tends to be a well-appointed,
well-decorated, well-serviced and high-end beach
villa-type property. However, for the more experienced
traveller, luxury could perhaps be more experiential,”
added Ms. D’Arcy.
Add-ons range from cook-
ing tours to cultural tours
on a private or small-group
basis, “where travellers immerse themselves in the destination, while still enjoying
accommodation of a high
standard”. Ms. Browne felt experiences that created lasting
memories were a significant
deciding factor for travellers
in this bracket.
Premium cruise sales remain buoyant
BY SARAH CORNWELL
CRUISI NG has remained
a hot ticket item this year,
with specialists bundling
competitive fares with more
added value features, helping
to attract new business and
counteract the rand’s weak
exchange rate.
Janine Pretorius, from Encore Cruises, GSA for Regent
Seven Seas, said the line’s
all-inclusive fares had helped
to attract more business in
what had been a “gratifying”
year, despite the weakness of
the rand. “The inclusivity of
the product also plays an important part in the decisionmaking process of the more
budget-conscious traveller,”
she said. “ T he lu x u r y t r avel le r
probably cr uises at least
twice each year and reservations are usually made
about six to eight months in
advance. The profile of the
Regent guest are those who
expect luxury and service to
go hand in hand. Of course,
value for money is always a
factor.” “Our regular luxury clientele tend to plan in advance and know what their
next destination or voyage
will be,” said Gaynor Neill,
General Manager of Cruise
Vacations, which represents,
among others, Carnival and
Silversea. M s. Nei l l e nc ou r age d
continued on page 17
... cruise sales remain buoyant Cruises International recognised
continued from page 16
agents to keep customers informed of new deals and special promotions, and to take
up special offers when they
are released.
C r u i s e Va c a t io n s h a s
seen more group and family bookings in 2015, with
larger suites with balconies
a popular option for Carnival itineraries. Carnival is
recommended “particularly
for passengers with younger
children, who want the entertainment… but prefer bigger,
more luxurious accommodation,” she said. “ O n c e a g a i n we h ave
had an increase in sales, so
haven’t noticed any tightening on spend,” Ms. Neill said,
adding Silversea sales for
2016 had grown “way above”
figures that were achieved
last year.
“The luxury market has
g row n together with the
contemporary one. We have
shown growth in US dollar sales across most of our
brands,” commented George
Argyropoulos, Cruises International Chief Executive Officer. He said the company’s
success had been driven by
new packaged fly/cruise options and fares bundled with
gratuities and drinks, where
those add-ons were not usually included. For the luxury market, Mr.
Argyropoulos maintained:
“Cost is very low on the list.”
Determining factors behind
new bookings were usually:
destination, time of travel
and the reputation of the
cruise line.
“… We define a luxury
cruise as ‘a world where every detail matters and everything is as beautiful as possible’. Everything we offer
during the consultation, on
board the ships, during the
cruise, as well as after our
clients return runs according
to this commitment…
“ No mat ter how much
money the luxur y market
has, that traveller has always
looked and will continue
to look for value… All we
need to do is recommend a
cruise, and show them that
our brands offer them what
they seek.” Product development is
another major talking point,
with new builds featuring
more first-at-sea entertainment and accommodation
being introduced.
“Few destinations offer as
many activities and experience as cruising,” remarked
k u lu la hol id ays P roduct
Manager, Megan D’Arcy,
who said: “Luxury brands
like Azamara Club Cruises
come out tops, with excellent itineraries, as well as
including all onboard meals,
activities and nightly entertainment.”
Mr. Argyropoulos urged
agents to focus on develop-
ing their cruise business in
the new year. South Africa’s
luxury cruise customer, he
said, was “generally speaking… aged 55 and over, welleducated and well-travelled.
They are business people and
professionals [and] looking
for a unique experience…
They travel for many reasons, including family reunions, celebrations… They do
not compromise on the quality of their experience. They
may not purchase the most
expensive suite, but they will
be on that ship!”
“The word luxury is very
subjective,” said Ms. Neill.
“However, we do find that
our clientele prefer smaller,
more exclusive cruise lines
and Silversea offers guests
a very intimate cruising experience, with between 296
and 596 guests on the classic
ships… The Silversea Expedition product again offers a very close and personal
experience, where, with between 100 and 130 guests,
depending on the ship, guests
mingle with the Expedition
team for a truly interactive
and enriching experience.
“Star Clippers is also favoured… [and] Scenic Cruises are appealing again due to
low passenger numbers, with
a very personal experience
and the convenience of being
fully-inclusive,” she said. W h it e St a r C r u i s e &
Travel is promoting Cunard’s
with international sales award
CRU ISES I nt e r nat ional,
Cr ystal Cr uises’ GSA in
South Africa, was awarded
a Million Dollar Producer
Award at the recent Crystal
Cruises 2015 Annual Sales
Gala onboard the Cr ystal
Symphony.
Crystal Cruises had earned
more ‘World’s Best’ accolades than any other cruise
2016 World Cr u ise pro gramme and 2017 itineraries. The 2016 season features
South Africa sailings operated by the Queen Mary 2
and Queen Elizabeth. Queen
Mary 2 will have undergone
a major refurbishment before
it arrives in Cape Town.
Shaun McCarthy, White
Star Cruise & Travel General Manager, said Cape
Town had become a “major
stop on the world cruises…
which opens opportunities
for South Africans to cruise
on the Cunard ships and for
travel agents from this market to book them”. To request 2017 brochures
or 2016 World Cruise e-brochures: info@whitestar.co.za
line, hotel, or resort, said
Cruises International Chief
Executive Officer, George
Argyropoulos.
This year, Cr ystal embarked on a major brand expansion, planning three new
classes of cruises – Crystal
Yacht Cruises, due to launch
this month; Crystal River
Cruises, commencing March
2017 and Crystal Exclusive
Class Ocean Cruises in late
2018 – with the Crystal Luxury Air fly/cruise operation
to be introduced in 2017.
Pictured (from left): Edie Rodriguez, President and CEO
of Crystal Cruises; George Argyropoulos, CEO of Cruises
International; Carmen Roig, Crystal Cruises’ Vice President International Marketing and Sales and Philip Ordever, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales.
Crystal Cruises has purchased a Boeing B777-200LR aircraft, which is being redesigned
with 88 flat-bed first class seats and a lounge bar for its new Crystal Luxury Air division.
The brand will launch in 2017, offering 14- and 28-day around-the-world and international itineraries. Crystal plans to add a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (artist’s impression
pictured), which will be reconfigured to accommodate 52 passengers. Airlines up their game
BY RICHARD HOLMES
W H I LE pr e m iu m t r avel
across Africa may not match
up to other parts of the world,
a handful of global airlines
are upping the quality of premium product flying into the
region.
One of the notable new
additions touched down at
OR Tambo International in
October, when Lufthansa became the first airline to bring
the new 747-8 aircraft into
Africa. “The four-class Boeing
747-8 is our most advanced
long-haul aircraft, bringing
comfort and premium service to our customers with
the most fuel-efficient longhaul aircraft in the Lufthansa
f leet,” said Andre Schulz,
Lufthansa’s General Manager South Africa. The airline has invested
€1.5-billion in its premium
onboard product, including
Premium Economy, a new
First Class cabin and lie-flat
seats in Business Class. Luf thansa has also increased its seasonal service
between Munich and Cape
Town: instead of five flights
per week the airline offers a
daily service to Munich. The
schedule will operate until
March 27, using an Airbus
A340-600. Another seasonal carrier
bringing an enhanced pre-
mium product to Cape Town
over the summer is Edelweiss.
Until May 2016 the carrier
will have two flights a week
between Cape Town and Zurich. Edelweiss brings its revamped Business Class product with bespoke amenity
kits, lie-flat beds, an in-flight
entertainment system with
16-inch HD touch-screens,
and in-seat power for charging personal devices. Virgin Atlantic has also
improved its product with the
cabin atmosphere. For Premium Economy
and Upper Class passengers,
there are a host of new innovations: The ‘Wander Wall’
provides a space for Premium Economy travellers to
socialise and grab a snack,
while the Upper Class cabin
has a next-generation seat
and improved bar area. Regardless of cabin, the 787s all
offer Wi-Fi access.
Swiss International Airlines will be revamping its
fleet with the introduction of
Lufthansa’s new Business Class cabin onboard its Boeing B747-8 ‘Queen of the Skies’, which touched down in
Johannesburg last month.
launch of a next-generation
787-900 on the daily Johannesburg – London route. This
new longer version of the
Boeing Dreamliner features
larger windows, higher ceilings and a more comfortable
new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from 2016 onwards. The
aircraft will accommodate
340 passengers in a threeclass configuration, and will
initially be used on long-haul
routes from Zurich to San
Pictured onboard Virgin Atlantic’s 787 Dreamliner celebratory flight over Johannesburg
last month (above): Allan Lunz, BidTravel Managing Director and Bronwyn Philips,
Managing Director, HRG Rennies Travel.
Francisco, Los Angeles, São
Paulo, Bangkok and Hong
Kong.
Business class product is
set to receive more attention
during 2016.
Malaysia Airlines is introducing a new Business
Class product on its A330
fleet, offering fully-flat beds
in a layout with improved
aisle access. Qat a r A i r ways is also
throwing down the gauntlet to its Gulf competitors,
promising a ‘business class
bedroom’ in 2016. Speaking on the sidelines of the
airline’s new Airbus A350
launch, Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, promised it would offer “a double
bed at a business class fare”,
suggesting the new product
would negate the need for a
first class product.
The introduction will mirror Singapore Airlines, which
already features a wider bed
and increased personal space
on its f lights out of South
Africa.
Pictured (above): KwaZulu-Natal and Durban Tourism
stakeholders turned out for the launch of Turkish Airlines’ new Durban – Istanbul route. The airline has said
there are plans to increase from four flights each week
to daily. TK’s new daily Cape Town service commenced
at the end of October, with a chef onboard who prepares and serves candlelit dinners to passengers flying
business class.
Personally Speaking
by John Wardall
Schengen can’t survive terrorist threat
2015
has been a year of less
travel for me than any
year since I was four. And from the age of
seven, I used to have a luggage tag tied
through the buttonhole on the lapel of
my school blazer with name and contact
details and put on a train or a plane to
school for the start of the new term or
back to home at the end of term. That was
wherever in the world my folks were based
at the time.
Home Affairs would go into total meltdown at the thought of it now and Malusi
Gigaba would have a nervous breakdown.
This year’s reduced schedule was intentional and I thought I would enjoy the
break. But once travel is in your blood, you
even start to miss the airport hassle, the
delays, the officialdom and certainly the
enjoyment and stimulation of new places
and new experiences.
That’s why the travel industry is such a
satisfying environment in which to work,
advising people and supplying them with
those experiences.
And that is why first-time travellers
inevitably become repeaters and provide
the opportunity of repeat business, if their
travel aspirations are properly handled.
Lapel baggage tag no longer required.
PS
Travelport has produced a very effective
video, which clearly illustrates in a subtle
way the value of its distribution system.
It was first shown at the e-volve summit
in the Middle East in October, is being used
in social media and will be shown in future
customer and media events.
If you haven’t seen it or have any doubts
about the value of the GDSs compared to
other distribution options, it is well worth a
look.
Check it out at travelport.com/commercial.
PS
Lufthansa is ploughing ahead with its
sales strategy, undeterred by the howls of
protest from the travel trade around the
world and, of course, the global distribution
systems.
It is difficult to know what impact the
negative reaction from the travel trade has
had so far. It is early days and Lufthansa has
been hit by labour unrest and numerous
cancelled flights, which have distorted the
sales numbers.
The strategy is either going to become
an epidemic in the airline business or will
cause a humiliating retreat by the German
carrier.
It probably depends on the solidarity of
the travel trade and I am never convinced
that solidarity is sustainable over a long
period.
So, the interests with the greatest
stamina and commitment will prevail.
We shall see.
PS
As the rest of the industry moves increasingly to inclusive, if not always fully-inclusive, pricing, the airlines are moving in the
opposite direction.
Dynamic pricing, which reduces or
totally removes booking classes, modular
fares and an almost infinite list of ancillary
options are on the cards.
While some carriers make little secret of
their desire to implement all of this with a
greater effort to attract direct business, to
me these developments seem to make the
role of the travel agent even more valuable.
I don’t see how it can all fail to make
the booking and decision-making process
more complicated. Surely a fully-inclusive
product is the most simple to understand
and buy.
The primary objective behind dynamic
pricing is not the altruistic one of giving
consumers total control of choice and
preferences, it is quite clearly to maximise
revenue. I just wish everybody would be
open and honest and say so, without trying
to obfuscate.
Exactly where and how travel agents will
fit into the picture still needs to be clarified, as does the way they will or will not
be remunerated for all of the extra work
involved in selling and processing ancillary
features.
PS
If you thought SAA was in dire straits,
fasten your seatbelts. The airline has been
dropped even deeper into the doo-doo
with the suspicious manoeuvring over its
A330 deal and the departure of a director
and more senior executives, who actually
knew what they were doing.
It has all been happening under the quite
extraordinary chairmanship of the Zoomer’s close friend Dudu Myeni, who appears
to be accountable to no-one.
When SAA’s pilot’s issued an overwhelming vote of no confidence in the
board last month, the ANC Youth League –
the future leaders of the country, God help
us – leaped to Dudu's defence, blaming
white supremacy in the airline and called
the pilots the "enemies of the people of
South Africa", who were "mere drivers" and
would be "crushed". The political debate is
being conducted by morons.
The pilots, unlike the ANCYL, recognise
that, under normal commercial conditions,
the airline could not possibly survive and
the only thing which will keep it in the air
are continuing government subsidies or the
takeover – if foreign ownership rules were
amended – by a major international carrier
with an appetite for self-flagellation.
Unfortunately, everything this government and its cadres touch inevitably turns
into the aforementioned.
PS
As the migrant crisis in Europe gets worse
and worse and the terrorism threat continues to grow, illustrated by the sickening
attacks in Paris, the Schengen agreement
becomes increasingly untenable. Some
European countries are even putting up
barbed wire fences between them and
their neighbours.
I will be amazed if it doesn’t bite the
dust next year because there appears to
be no acceptable solution to the problem.
There are now signs that security concerns
will probably prompt European passport
checks at all borders, even with Schengen
still in place.
Anything which puts hurdles in the way
of travel and increases the bureaucracy and
cost is going to diminish the number of visitors.
But Western countries have no choice, so
South African travellers visiting more than
one European country are inevitably going
to have to dig deep to pay for the already
onerous cost of visas and face more thorough scrutiny at borders.
From a regional perspective, the flow
of hard currency being sent back to family
members from the UK and Europe is a bonus for African countries, which are refusing
to allow the re-entry of their own nationals
on the basis of them not having documentation, the reason being they have usually
junked it before entering Europe in order to
claim refugee status.
Social unrest is on the way.
PS
Advisories from suppliers started bombarding travel agents last month about
rand price increases, due to the depreciation of the currency against real money.
The US is expected to increase its inter-
est rate this month, further strengthening
the dollar and weakening the rand, even
though the market has already anticipated
it.
If the SA government doesn’t get its act
together soon – and what chance is there
of that? – the rand could go into freefall
next year and a tax revolt won’t be far
behind. It is a challenging outlook for travel
and survival of the fittest will be the order
of the day.
All the more reason for retailers to be
very selective over suppliers and deal with
the tried and trusted brands which are well
managed and have deep pockets to sustain
themselves over what could be an extended period of tough trading conditions.
PS
Egyptian tourism has taken another
bodyblow following the crash of a Russian
aircraft carrying holidaymakers from St.
Petersburg, who had been sunning themselves in Sharm el Sheikh.
The situation looked even worse when
it became known that the jet was probably
brought down by an onboard explosive
device and worse still when it was revealed
the pilot of a UK Thomson Holidays flight
had to take evasive action in the same area
in August when a suspected missile was
fired at the aircraft.
I feel very sorry for Egypt, which is so
dependant on tourism. It is a prime target
of terrorism but Western countries are by
no means in the clear.
They have been very effective so far in
preventing many planned terrorist attacks
but the threat is growing all the time as the
outrages in Paris have shown.
No-one can convince me that the avalanche of “refugees” entering Europe and
the UK comprises only innocent victims of
repressive regimes. A worrying percentage
is able young men and you can guarantee a
worrying percentage of them are going to
be trouble.
It is all a clear and present danger to
Western society as we know it.
Nothing could have illustrated that more
clearly than the barbaric attacks in Paris
last month. In Europe’s most civilised city, it
magnified the clash of civilisations.
The West is reaping the rewards of liberal
immigration, asylum and social policies and
is confronting an enemy whose mentality
is still in the Dark Ages. A serious backlash
is brewing and I can see it happening very
suddenly and unexpectedly.
Vive La France and to hell with the neanderthals!
continued on page 20
TIR Southern Africa
•
December 2015
19
News Digest
Schengen can’t survive...
PS
Situations change and we always hope for
the better. Places I would happily visit years
ago, I would no longer consider; and the
reverse applies.
But, I don’t get it. Why do people choose
to go on holiday to places which are inherently unsafe. I was wondering that a
while ago when a group of tourists were
kidnapped in Yemen. You wouldn’t get me
within 100 kms of the border, although I
was there years ago under different circumstances.
Even worse, people take their families
with them. Maybe it is because those
places are often cheaper and there is the
common feeling that “it won’t happen to
me” – until it does!
Vacation travel is a choice and I choose
not to go anywhere I don’t feel safe or
where there is an unwelcoming attitude.
Really, why go anywhere it is unsafe or
where you have the feeling the locals hate
you?
PS
After revolting students took to the streets
to demand free education last month by
burning cars, buildings and even books
– which many of them can’t read – the
government, all of the political parties,
every politician, university authorities and
all of the media caved in and suddenly
discovered they had been in favour of that
forever.
Have you ever heard such spineless,
opportunistic hogwash? The hypocrisy is
mind-blowing.
Free education is an ideal, even though
the campaign here is tainted with the usual
stain of entitlement. But the country has to
be able to pay for it and South Africa’s spiral
of debt, mismanagement and corruption
continued from page 19
puts us nowhere close to being able to afford it.
Even the US can’t afford to provide free
tertiary education, so the delusion that
South Africa can is laughable. As it is, our
universities are struggling and their facilities
are woeful compared to the First World.
I attend the University of Cape Town
summer school each year and see the peeling paint, broken chairs and antiquated
technology. And UCT is the number one
rated university in South Africa, even
though it is number 71 and dropping in the
world university index. What a comparison
when I visited the University of California
Los Angeles two years ago and saw the
immaculately maintained campuses and
residences and the state of the art facilities.
Of course, there ‘progressive’ students
don’t burn books and vandalise facilities;
they are actually there to learn.
PS
While Home Affairs has been messing
about with immigration regulations and
messing up inbound and outbound travel in
the process, I see that Indonesia has introduced a free visa scheme for Indian visitors.
That is projected to attract 500,000 Indians next year, up from 350,000 last year.
It says something about how our politicians
‘apply their minds’, as they like to say, to
turn away business from our esteemed
BRIC partners and get outmanoeuvred by
a country where a large percentage of the
population of the Western Cape originated.
PS
Having got that off my chest, I’m taking a
break. We all deserve one after this year
and I want to wish all of TIR’s readers a very
happy, safe and peaceful holiday and best
wishes for the New Year.
In the next issue of
Travel Industry Review...
…we ring in the New Year with TIR’s inaugural annual Domestic Travel feature with a special report on Seniors Travel.
Emirates recently painted two of its A380s from nose to tail with a special livery in support of United for Wildlife and the fight against the illegal wildlife trade. The aircraft
flew into airports in London and Mauritius to spread the airline’s message. The airline
has banned trophy shipments and is working with international organisations to implement better controls to detect illegal wildlife products in transit. It appealed to other
transport operators and carriers to join the campaign. Tim Clark, Emirates President,
said: “The world is in a poaching crisis and everyone has to do their part to stop this
before it is too late.” For more information, visit www.unitedforwildlife.org.
Visitor growth prompts boost to
Air France/KLM Cape Town flights
AIR FRANCE KLM will upgrade its schedule to a daily
f light between Amsterdam
and Cape Town year round,
starting May next year. The
development is in response
to growing inbound passenger numbers. The airline will
introduce one of its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft
on the route. Western Cape tourism officials said last month there
had been “marked growth”
in the number of visitors
from the Netherlands visiting Cape Town, with a nine
percent increase in the July
– September period. According to Cape Town
Air Access, a division of
Wesgro, Dutch t ravellers
represent 10 percent of Cape
Town’s European market and
34 percent have historically
chosen indirect f lights. On
the current direct schedule,
there has been a 92 percent
load factor.
“Because KLM has been
f lying direct from Amsterdam to Cape Town for almost 20 years, Amsterdam
has developed into an important transfer hub for passengers from North America
to Cape Town,” said Wesgro
Chief Executive Officer, Tim
Harris. “In 2013, the Netherlands was the most important
export destination for products from the Western Cape
worldwide and we are working to develop this relationship even further.”